Kolibri is a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and Russian experimental pop/rock group formed in 1988 in

Saint-Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

playing an eclectic brand of

baroque pop Baroque pop (sometimes called baroque rock) is a fusion genre that combines rock music with particular elements of classical music. It emerged in the mid-1960s as artists pursued a majestic, orchestral sound and is identifiable for its appropria ...

blended with elements of

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...

chanson A (, ; , ) is generally any Lyrics, lyric-driven French song. The term is most commonly used in English to refer either to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval music, medieval and Renaissance music or to a specific style of ...

and dominated by vocal harmony. In their heyday Kolibri, according to rock historian Andrey Burlaka, combined ironic high posturing with touchingly humane attitude, writing and performing songs that were described variously as exquisite, depressive, extravagant, romantic, naive, sophisticated and decadent.Kolibri Андрей Бурлака
/ref> The band released six studio albums which were well received by critics both in Europe and in Russia but never had any commercial success. www.allmusic.com Kolibri/ref> Natasha Pivovarova, Kolibri's founding member, left in 1998 to form her own band Sous (The Sauce). She died in a car crash in

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, in September 2007.

Band history

Kolibri were formed in 1988, originally as a side project for (born 17 July 1963 in

Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( ; , ; ), also known simply as Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the oldest cities in Russia, being first mentioned in the 9th century. The city lies along the V ...

), then a member of Sergey Kuryokhin's Populyarnaya Mekhanika. She invited six other girls, who were associated with the Leningrad Rock Club but hadn't had any stage experience, to join, and suggested they form a kind of musical theater and perform covers in a cabaret/avant-garde/post-rock fashion. On 8 March 1988 the septet premiered their Vacation of Love set (its title referring to the

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese film) at the Leningrad Rock Club. According to critic Andrey Burlaka the concert caused furore and the girls became an overnight sensation in the city's cultural scene. By their next gig, Kolibri had five members: Pivovarova, Yelena Yudanova, Irina Sharovatova, Olga Feshchenko, and Inna Volkova. Soon the band members started writing their own material.

Debut

In November 1989, Kolibri went into

Aquarium An aquarium (: aquariums or aquaria) is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. fishkeeping, Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aquati ...

's portable studio to record their ''Американская жена'' (American Wife) demo and next month started working on their debut album in the Titanic Studio with producer Alexandr Titov (ex-Aquarium). Among those taking part in the recording were Oleg Sakmarov (

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double-reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...

), Piotr Akimov (

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

), Alexey Ratzen (drums) and two Televizor's guitarists, Alexandr Beliaev and Maxim Kuznetzov. In 1990 the debut album ''Манера поведения'' (Manie′ra Povede′niya, Manner of Conduct) was released, first unofficially, then a year later on FeeLee Records in Russia. Two years later it was released in the USA. The band went on tour using the instrumental studio backing track and asserting (according to

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

) "their nonconformity with theatrical stage antics and costuming, in their case identical black ballet outfits and colored gloves."

The 'classic' years

1991 saw Kolibri performing at the Rock Club's 10th Anniversary concert and at the Internedelja Festival in

Novosibirsk Novosibirsk is the largest city and administrative centre of Novosibirsk Oblast and the Siberian Federal District in Russia. As of the 2021 Russian census, 2021 census, it had a population of 1,633,595, making it the most populous city in Siber ...

, alongside N.O.M., Orkestr A and The Shamen among others. They took part in

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' Leningrad Days (Lеs Allumees fest) and later played in

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and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. In 1992 Videofilm company made a musical film ''Колибри в Париже и Дома'' (Kolibri in Paris and at Home). Demonstrated occasionally in Petersburg theaters throughout 1990s, it has never been released on video. By this time Olga Feshchenko has left the group and settled in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. Kolibri's second album ''Маленькие трагедии'' (Ma′lenkie Trage′dii, Little Tragedies) was recorded in 1992, with the session musician and arranger Yuri Sobolev and guitarist Aleksandr Gnatyuk. A song from the album, "Zholty List Osenni" (Yellow Leaf of Autumn), written and sung by Elena Udanova, became Russian radio hit. On 8 March 1993, the group celebrated their fifth anniversary by playing in Slava Polunin's show. In 1994 Kolbri recorded ''Найди десять отличий'' (Find Ten Differences). Produced by Andrei Muratov of DDT fame and released by Triary Records, it is regarded as their best. This time they were supported in the studio by bassist Vyacheslav Koshelev, ex- Auktyon drummer Igor Cheridnik, various members of Prepinaki (the latter's frontman Alex Lushin was Natasha Pivovarova's husband at the time) and Aleksandr Belyaev of

Nautilus Pompilius The chambered nautilus (''Nautilus pompilius''), also called the pearly nautilus, is the best-known species of nautilus. The shell, when cut away, reveals a lining of lustrous nacre and displays a nearly perfect logarithmic spiral, equiangular s ...

. The experimental ''Бес Сахара'' (Bes Sahara, a pun which could mean both 'Without Sugar' or 'Sugar Demon', its working title having been - 'Princesses Don't Poo'), recorded with Tequilajazzz was released by Gala Records. The members of Tequilajazzz joined the girls on stage to become for a while Kolibri's backing band. In 1998 Kolibri starred in Aleksandr Bashirov's film ''Zheleznaya Pyata Oligarkhyi'' (The Iron Heel of Oligarchy). In May of that year the band joined the line-up of Sergey Kuryokhin's 2nd annual S.K.I.F. Festival organized in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

by David Gross, the good friend of the latter.

Pivovarova's departure

In December 1998 Natasha Pivovarova left the band to pursue a solo career. She went on to work as a producer for Molochny Shake (another all-girl group which some critics labeled "the teenage Kolibri") and sang duets with Alexandr Lushin and his band. In January 2000 she formed a new group (or "the association" as they preferred to call themselves) named Соус (Sous, The Sauce). In less than a year Kolibri re-emerged with the two new members, Oleg Emirov (keyboards and arrangements; ex-Golye) and Andrey Gradovich (guitar). After a year of touring Europe the reformed Kolibri made their first Saint Petersburg appearance; their 24 December 2000 concert in Teatr Estrady garnered fine reviews. The album, ''Любовь и её конечности'' (Lyubov I yeyo konechnosti, Love and its Limbs) recorded in the Signal Studios with producer Sergey Rusanov (ex-Ulitzy, Televizor) was shelved to be released a year later by Real Records, almost simultaneously with their next work, ''Troi'', a collaboration with the Volkovtrio members, Vladimir Volkov and Svyatoslav Kurashov. In the course of the next two years Kolibri played several festivals (including S.K.I.F.) and appeared in studio compilations (like the two Aquarium members tribute — first Dyusha Romanov's, then

Boris Grebenshchikov Boris Borisovich Grebenshchikov (; born ) is a prominent member of the generation which is widely considered to be the "founding fathers" of Russian rock music. He is the founder and lead singer of the band Aquarium which has been active since ...

). The band's 15th anniversary concerts in Moscow and Petersburg saw Natasha Pivovarova joining her ex-colleagues on stage. By this time Emirov has left and Kolibri joined forces with Soundscript 33, an instrumental trio led by saxophonist and composer Dmitry Fyodorov. Natasha Pivovarova, Kolibri's founding member, died in a car crash in

, in September 2007. In 2009 Yudanova, Volkova and Sharovatova along with Soundscript 33 recorded ''Железные звезды'' (Zheleznye zvyozdy, Iron Stars), which later made its way into ''Vzglyad'' newspaper's list of 12 best World albums of that year.Музыка жёлтого быка.
Двенадцать лучших музыкальных альбомов 2009 года по версии газеты ВЗГЛЯД, 2009 In 2013 ''Апокрифы'' (Apocrypha), the collection of rarities, was released online.Gorbachyov, Alexandr. Prudnikov, Sergey
The 25th Anniversary interview with Elena Yudanova, Inna Volkova and Irina Sharovatova
@ Volna.

Discography

Studio albums

* Манера Поведения (1991, - Manera povedeniya, Code of Conduct) * Маленькие трагедии (1992, - Malenhkiye tragediyi, Little Tragedies) * Найди десять отличий (1994, - Naidi desyat otlichiy, Find Ten Differences) * Бес Сахара (1997, - Bes Sakhara, Sugar Demon) * Ремиксы (1998, - Remixes) * Любовь и ее конечности (2002, - Lyubov I yeyo konechnosti, Love and Its Extremities) * Железные звезды (2009, - Zheleznye zvyozdy, Iron Stars)

References

External links

official site

Kolibri on Kroogi
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kolibri (band) Russian all-female bands Musical groups from Saint Petersburg Russian experimental musical groups Russian rock music groups Soviet rock music groups